Utah's SITLA/BLM Land Swap Does Not Benefit the People or the Land
This section Courtesy KCPW News, July 09, 2009
"U.S. House Unanimously Approves SITLA Land Swap", by Elizabeth Ziegler
(KCPW News) The U.S. House
of Representatives unanimously approved a land swap with the Utah School
and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA)
yesterday. If approved by the Senate, it will authorize a patchwork
assortment of more than 40,000 acres of SITLA lands to be transferred to
the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
in exchange for a similar amount of land in the oil and gas-rich Uintah
Basin. However, Congressman Jim Matheson, who sponsored the
legislation, says it does more than that.
"It
acknowledged that there's recreational value to this area right along
the Colorado River corridor and taking that out of potential development
had value," Matheson says. "And in return, the state got some oil and
gas properties for that type of development instead."SITLA believes oil and gas
development on the Uintah Basin land could add tens of millions of
dollars to the school trust fund. A portion of the interest from the
fund is distributed to Utah schools each year.
Matheson says this is the
first time that recreational value was taken into consideration for such
a federal land swap. The value of public land has traditionally been
based on the value of potential development or resource extraction. He
believes the bill will set a precedent for future legislation. Liz
Thomas with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance in Moab hopes it will.
"We do hope it can serve as a
model because this land exchange bill, honestly, it's been years in the
making and it was in the end supported by pretty much all sides,"
Thomas says. "And that's pretty unheard of."
Thomas says the land swap would represent a significant step toward protecting many scenic areas around Moab, including one of the largest red rock formations in the region, Corona Arch. - (End of KCPW Story)
July 2009 Author's Note: On a
higher level, it is sad to see that we shall concentrate our destructive
and extractive forces in one area. If we were Uintah Basin Native
Americans, we might think that this is not such a good idea.
Look south to Black Mesa, Arizona, near Navajo National Monument and you will find the best-hidden strip mine in the West. Utilizing the Black Mesa and Lake Powell (Electric) Railroad, the aptly named Black Mesa provides relatively dirty western coal to the Navajo Generating Station, which overlooks Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon Dam.
Today, there is a growing consensus that the dam itself was an
unnecessary environmental tragedy. During the increasingly hot summers,
the oversubscribed Colorado River
cannot supply enough water to spin a sufficient number of turbines at
Glen Canyon Dam to meet peak electric power demand. At such times,
additional coal-smoke haze issues forth from the tall stacks of the
Navajo Generating Station. These smoke signals send a message of
environmental degradation to each of the Four Corners states. Fickle
winds roundabout the canyons of the Colorado Plateau may contribute to
such far-flung phenomena as Uintah Basin’s summer haze
Ask the current residents of Giza, Egypt
if they would support a new round of pyramid building in their
once-lush valley. In ancient times, over-development there initiated
what we now call the Sahara Desert. Yes, current dwellers of the desert
southwest, it can happen here.
(Some) Environmentalists like the swap,
and worked for its passage in Congress, because it protects
“remarkable places along the Colorado River,” said Bill Hedden,
executive director of the Grand Canyon Trust.
“The schoolkids come out ahead and the natural places come out ahead,” Hedden said. “It’s a great exchange.”
January 2012 Author's Note:
According to The Salt Lake Tribune newspaper, "Utah is weary of
waiting for federal funds to complete a heralded swap of recreational
lands near Moab in exchange for energy swaths in the Uintah Basin, so
state school trust officials plan to start paying appraisers
themselves to seal the deal."
“The schoolkids come out ahead and the natural places come out ahead,” Hedden said. “It’s a great exchange.”
I wonder if the Native American
school kids living among natural gas wells and breathing polluted air
in the Uintah Basin will be as sanguine.
Email James McGillisBy James McGillis at 11:44 PM | Environment | Comments (0) | Link
